Jerry Thomas

I Have My Doubts

Yep, Plagiarism

You’re always going to find the occasional stolen tweet on the pages of Twitter. No big deal, yes? But once in a while you find a wholesale ripoff, where an individual callously wallpapers his entire timeline with the work of others. Your mind can boggle, if you let it, and the enormity of the theft.

This evening I happened upon the timeline of @pizzaguy06 – and noticed one of my own tweets with his name attached to it. And then another. And then another. Sadly, it looked like this individual was repeatedly copying and pasting directly from my FavStar “Best Of” page, over and over again. For days on end.

Soon I started noticing some other tweets that looked familiar, and yep – with a few clicks, I had proof that these tweets had been plagiarized as well, lots of them, and from probably dozens of other Twitter members. This theft has been ongoing for weeks, at minimum.

Why anyone would try this kind of stunt in the Age of Google, I don’t know, but it seems that virtually every tweet on this guy’s timeline has been nicked from a previous source. Pizza Guy has been lifting some great lines word for word from some of the best-known contributors to our little part of the twitterverse. Why he didn’t consider how easily such theft can be demonstrated, I don’t know, but I expect he’s going to have a lot of people mad at him, and probably pretty quickly.

For those who care, and by way of proof, below I’ve collected samples from @pizzaguy06’s Tweet of the Day page:

http://favstar.fm/users/pizzaguy06/tweets_of_the_day

Favstar users have awarded their Favstar Tweet of the Day trophies to no less than 22 of @pizzaguy06’s Tweets.  Of these, at least 16 are clearly the work of other people. I’ve collected links to those original tweets below, and given credit, as best I could, to their original authors.

Remember, the tweets collected below are just those that have been awarded a Tweet of the Day trophy – there are many, many other tweets borrowed by @pizzaguy06, some from people who are quite well known in our community.

Obviously, there are more important fights to fight. But this was one small thing I could easily set right. If he is interested, I would suggest that one good way @pizzaguy06 can make amends for these transgressions against all of us in our community is by simply committing a swift and painless twittercide. And I’d thank him for that, and wish him a good post-Twitter life.

And so, the list:

===

I bet every so often Tony the Tiger skips the “Frosted Flakes” and rips open a gazelle. (Original author: @jerrythomas)
https://twitter.com/#!/JerryThomas/status/25638183182

I’m sorry. I had your Sharona confused with mine. (@jerrythomas)
https://twitter.com/#!/JerryThomas/status/17059892743

Sometimes I like to go to the hardware store and run around with a screwdriver shouting, “Ladies and gentlemen, this is not a drill!” (@girlweena)
https://twitter.com/#!/girlweena/status/58574261111107584

I couldn’t tell which drink I roofied so I drank both of them and now some dude won’t stop groping myself. (@mannyteee)
http://favstar.fm/users/mannyteee/status/11912453479

Ok, so I now know that sign language for a wedding ring isn’t making a circle with one hand and sticking your finger inside it rapidly(@dr_ridiculous)
https://twitter.com/#!/dr_ridiculous/status/73590796661686272

There’s a fly on my desk and all I can think is that I don’t have chopsticks so I’ll never get to sweep the leg. (@Twitacide)
http://de.favstar.fm/users/Twitacide/status/120197879951400960

We’re going to feel so stupid when we find out that pandas cause cancer and climate change.
(I actually couldn’t find a source for this one. Goodness!)

People are less likely to commit murder if they’ve eaten breakfast, according to a study I just made up in order to try to get free pancakes (@tehawesome)
https://twitter.com/#!/tehawesome/status/12707481436

You can always spot the living dead by their wedding ring.  (@tjlohman)
http://bit.ly/um8cgg

If ADD is wrong then I don’t want to be squirrel. (@camh)
https://twitter.com/#!/camh/status/6974982079

I think self checkout was invented by a guy who had to buy tampons (@mytweecwetlife)
http://favstar.fm/t/44413888845971457

Good to see Jeep Wranglers still are equipped w/fire extinguishers. Because you never know when a small fire will break out in 1995.. (No antecedent found)

When I want to RT someone in real life, I say “What?” (@GeekingOff)
http://favstar.fm/users/GeekingOff/status/94180499936907264

If I had a Smart car, I’d lock it to a bike rack. Just for funsies. (@Jay_La_Soul)
https://twitter.com/#!/Jay_La_Soul/status/88713998639431681

If you have your towel covering the display on your treadmill, I can’t tell who is winning this race. (No antecedent found)

I saw a car hit this parked car in front of me and drive away, so I put a note on the parked car saying ‘God hates you.’ (@DieLaughing)
https://twitter.com/#!/DieLaughing/status/6347164477

“One of the things I love about Twitter is that you can totally make up quotations.” -Abraham Lincoln (The earliest version of this one I found was from @petershankman in March of 2010, but I have my doubts that he originated it. Anyway, it was retweeted from this account more than 100 times)
https://twitter.com/#!/petershankman/status/11001631917

If I was told to pick one word to describe myself, I’d go with “doesn’t follow directions.” (@OhMahon)
https://twitter.com/#!/OhMahon/status/67670169056583681

If I found out I only had a week to live, and could go anywhere in the world, I think I’d go to the hospital because that sounds serious. (@plemur)
https://twitter.com/#!/plemur/status/6511624071

I’ll bet necrophiliacs love to crack open a cold one. (No antecendent found. But it sounds familiar)

@fifty_buds when I golf which is rare, I always hold the one iron above my head, cuz not even god can hit the #1 (This might be the only one on the list that is indisputably @pizzaguy06’s own, (a) because it is an @ reply and (b) there is not much else worth saying about it.

There is one more tweet at the end of Mr. Guy’s TotD list which I do not care to repeat because it rubs me the wrong way. In any event, I did not find an antecedent for this particular tweet.

And there it is.

 

  1. theleanover reblogged this from jerrythomas and added:
    The curious case
  2. vivaveronica122 said: If I was going to steal a tweet from you I’d steal that one about wanting three hands so you can flip someone off inside air quotes. That’s one of my favorite tweets of all time! (and yes, I’m stealing it).
  3. jerrythomas posted this